Steam-generating fire-box



' (-No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.]

M. D. BEARDSLEB 8; J. H; HAND. STEAM GENERATING FIRE BOX.

No. 425,200. PatehtedApL-S, 18.90.

:17 11 .f ;jjli. ffjlf M lllll 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. M. D. BEARDSLEB & J. H.HAND.

sTEAM GENERATING FIRE BOX (No Model.)

Patented Apr. 8, 1890;

(Fig. f

WITNESSES 6 UNITED STATES PATENT 'OFFICE.

MARCUS D. BEARDSLEE, or DETROIT, AND JESsE H. HAND, OF ANN ARBOR,

ASSIGNORS or ONE-THIRD To THE GEO. T. SMITH IrIIDDLINGs PURIFIERCOMPANY, OF JACKSON, MICHIGAN.

STEAM-G EN ERATING F|RE=BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 425,200, dated April.8, 1890.

Application filed April 1, 1889. Serial No, 305,779- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, MARCUS D. BEARDs- LEE and JESSE I-I. HAND, citizensof the United States, of whom MARCUs D. BEARDs- LEE resides at Detroit,in the county of WVayne and State of Michigan, and JESSE H. HAND residesat Ann Arbor, in the county of Washtenaw and State of Michigan, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Steam-Generating Fire-Boxes, ofwhich the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to the fire-box used in connection withsteam-boilers, and has for its object the production of a fire-box whichshall be durable under the extreme heat used in generating steam of highpressure, and which shall be simple in construction and so divided inparts. that any portion which may be defective in construction or maybecome defective from use may be removed to be repaired or to bereplaced by a perfect part with ease and without the necessity ofdisarranging any of the parts, except those which it is desired toremove.

Figure 1 shows a sectional side elevation showing the relative positionof the steamboiler and fire-box. Figs. 2 and 3 show two methods ofconnecting the hollow bridge wall with the hollow gratedoar. Fig. 4shows a top View of the grate-bars, bridge-wall, side walls, andhot-water and steam tank. A portion of the grate-bars is broken away toshow the connection between the hot-water tank, side walls, andgrate-bars. Fig. 5 shows an end view of the side walls, bridge-wall,grate-bars, hot-water tank, and connection between the hot-water tankand grate-bars and side walls. Fig. 6 shows a side view of a portion ofone of the grate-bars Fig. 7 shows a section across the same at theforward end. Fig. 8 shows the meeting-point of the oblique sides of thegrate-bars at the rear or larger end.

The support of the boiler and the support of the front end of thegrate-bars are not shown, the support of the boiler consisting of theordinary brick-setting, (shown in section in Figs. A and 5,) and thesupport of the front end of the gratabars consisting of an iron bar thatpasses across from one side wall to the other. 0

A represents the bridge-wall. It is made in sections equal in number tothe number of grate-bars. Each section consists of a castiron boxcommunicating at its lower front side with one of the series ofgrate-bars B and at its upper rear side with a stean1tank O. The sectionA of the bridge-wall may be castin one piece with the grate-bar, asshown in Fig. 3, or it may be cast separate from it and united to it bymeans of a coupling-nip- 6o ple b, as shown in Fig. 2.

The steam tank 0 extends horizontally across between the side wallssupporting the boiler and receives 011 its forward. side or side towardthe fire a number of inlet-pipes D, of which there is one from eachsection of the bridge=wall and one from each of the side walls E E. Onits opposite or rearward side ithas an outlet-pipe leading to andemptying into the upper part of the boiler W. A Check-valve It islocated in this return-pipe to prevent any reverse action of the steamin the boiler.

Each of the grate-bars B and each of the side walls E has on the underside at its forward end 'an inlet-pipe F, leading to it from thehot-water tank G, and the hot-water tank G, which is located in theash-pit below the grate-bars, has an inlet-pipe leading into it from thelower forward end of the boiler WV. A check-valve S prevents the steamformed in the hollow fire-box from forcing the water back into theboiler. The grate-bars B, side walls E, and the sectionsA of thebridge-wall are hollow, and with the two tanks 0 and G and theconnecting-pipes form a circulating system, through which there will bea @011- stant flow of water or steam when there is a fire on the grate.hen there is no lire 011 the grate, the parts would be full of water, 0which would stand in the pipe I as high as the water-level in the boilerV. As soon as fire is placed upon the grate the water in the side wallsand the bridge will begin to be converted into steam, and the steam willfind 9 5 its escape through the pipe D, steam-tank C,

and pipe I into the top of the boiler, and water will come in from theboiler in the other direction. The tank t will ordinarily be full ofsteam rather than water.

The tank (l, which we call thehot-\vater tank, because it willordinarily be full of hot water, is placed in the ash-pit below thegrate-bars, and while its principal object isto form a reservoir, out ofwhich the pipes F may lead to the side walls and to the gratebars, it;also forms an auxiliary mud-di.'um, in which any sediment coming downfrom the boiler will bedcposited and out of which any such sediment canbe blown through the petcock J.

The grate-bar l) is of a peculiar shape. A cross-section of its tubularpart .is somewhat in the form of a sector of a circle, as shownin Fig.7. In position the arched part is turned downward and the angled partturned upward. From the upper or angled sides spring transversegrate-lugs L, the upper surfaces of which lie in a horizontal planeslightlybelow the meeting-line at the apex of the lines c c, forming theuppersnri'aces of the tube of the grate-bar. The object of thisconstruction to produce a ridge on each grate-bar tube that risesslightly above the general surface of the grate-bar lugs and extendsfrom the front to the rear of each grate-bar, furnishing a track overwhich thehoe of the fireman can be drawn. The grate-bar is also madewith a larger cross-section from top to bottom at one end than at theother, and the largest part is placed to the rear, as shown in Fig. 1,and in the large end is inserteda short piece of pipe K with a stop-cock1.; in it, out of which may be blown any sediment that may accumulate inthe grate-bar B.

The side walls E rise on either side of the bank of grate-barssuliiciently high to hold the mass of coal used in firing, and thebridgewall at the rear of the grate-bars effects the double result ofholding the coals and of deflecting the flame upward against the bottomof. the boiler. The sectional form of the bridge-wall renders it easy toremove any defective portion of the bridge-wall or any defectivegrate-bar and to make the removal of one grate-bar and its section ofthe bridgewall still more easy. The pipe 1), leading from the section ofthe bridge-wall to the steam-tank (J, is made in two short pieces, heldtogether by a conpling-nutN. The ends of the pieces of the pipe D whichmeet inthe nut- N are threaded one with a right-hand thread and theother with a left-hand thread, as shown in Fig. 4., and so, also, theupright parts of the pipes F are made each in two pieces, united in thesame way by the unionnuts MI, so that in order to remove any one of thegrates with its connected section of the bridge-wall it is onlynecessary to loosen the two nuts N and M on the pipes connected withthat particular section.

The oblique upper sides of the tube of the grate-bar 13 cause any ashesthat may he formed to drop at once into the ash-pit with out cloggingbetween the lugs of the gratebar.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as novel, and desireto have secured to us by Letters Patent, is--- 1. A fire-box used inconnection with a boiler for generating steam, said tire-box havinghollow grate-bars, hollow side walls, and a bridge-wall formed ofindependent hollow sections, all of said hollow parts being connected bymeans of piping with the boiler and arranged to be kept full of waterfrom the boiler, substantially as described.

2. A lirebox used in connection with a steamgenerating boiler, havingthe bridgewall made in sections, each section being 1101- low and beingconnected with a hollow gratebar, and each section with its connectedgratebar being arranged to be disconnected from the system of piping bywhich it is connected to the boiler and removed from the fire-boxwithout disarranging other parts of the firebox.

In connection with a boiler for generating steam, a tire-box. formed ofindependent hollow side walls and independent hollow grate-bars, eachone of which is connected to an independent part of a bridge-wall formedof independent hollow sections, the said. side walls and grate-barsbeing arranged to receive water at their front end from. the front endof the boiler, and to deliver either water or steam at their rear endthrough an interposed collecting-tank to the rear end of the boiler,substantially as described.

4.. The bridge-wall of a lire-box made in sections, each section beinghollow, unconnected with the adjacent section on either side, andarranged, as described, to communicate with the boiler above the fireboxby means of hollow connections and to be kept; full of water from theboiler.

5. A sectional bridge-wall of a tire-box, of which each section ishollow, unconnected to the adjacent section on either side, but isconnected to one of a bank of hollow grate-bars, so that the hollowinterior of the section communicates with the hollow interior of thegratebar, substantially as and for the purpose described.

0. In combination with abank of independent hollow grate-bars having anoutlet at the rear end of. each bar for the escape of contained water, ahot-water tank fed from the forward end of; the boiler and feeding tothe forward end of each of the grate-bars by means of independent pipesleading from the tank to the forward end of the grate-bars,substantially as and for the purpose described.

7. The firebox connected with a boiler for generating steam, having itsside walls made of imlepemilent hollow castings unconnected with thebridge-wall, and each of which is arranged, as described, to receivewater from the boiler and return it to the boiler cithe as water orsteam.

8. In combination with a fire-box composed of independent hollow partsforming the back and sides thereof, a receiving steam-tank locatedbehind the fire-box, into which lead the pipes from the several hollowpieces of the fire-box, and out of which leads the pipe returning steamto the boiler over the fire-box, substantially as and for the purposedescribed.

9. The combination of a steam-boiler, a firebox composed of hollowpieces, a system of piping arranged, as described, to lead Water fromone end of the boiler into the hollow pieces composing the fire-box, anda system of piping, as described, to return the steam from the fire-boxinto the boiler, and checkvalves to check the reverse flow of eithersteam or water, substantially as described.

10. A hollow grate-bar having grate-lu gs on the upper side thereof andhaving its upper sides between the lugs oblique and meeting at an angleabove the upper surface of the lugs,

the said meeting-line of the oblique sides being continuous from end toend of the gratebar and forming a ridge above the upper surface of thelugs, substantially as and for the purpose described.

11. In the fire-box, a casting forming in One piece a grate-bar and apart of the sectional bridge-wall, the sections of said bridge-wallbeing unconnected with each other, substantially as and for the purposedescribed.

12. In a fire-box, the combination of a grate and bridge-wall, saidbridge-Wall being sectional and each section being independent of thesections adjacent to it, but connected with one of the grate-bars,substantially as described. MARCUS D. BEARDSLEE. JESSE H. HAND.Witnesses:

EFFIE I. CROFT, CHARLES F. BURTON.

